Systematic Angle Random Walk Estimation of the Constant Rate Biased Ring Laser Gyro

An actual account of the angle random walk (ARW) coefficients of gyros in the constant rate biased rate ring laser gyro (RLG) inertial navigation system (INS) is very important in practical engineering applications. However, no reported experimental work has dealt with the issue of characterizing the ARW of the constant rate biased RLG in the INS. To avoid the need for high cost precise calibration tables and complex measuring set-ups, the objective of this study is to present a cost-effective experimental approach to characterize the ARW of the gyros in the constant rate biased RLG INS. In the system, turntable dynamics and other external noises would inevitably contaminate the measured RLG data, leading to the question of isolation of such disturbances. A practical observation model of the gyros in the constant rate biased RLG INS was discussed, and an experimental method based on the fast orthogonal search (FOS) for the practical observation model to separate ARW error from the RLG measured data was proposed. Validity of the FOS-based method was checked by estimating the ARW coefficients of the mechanically dithered RLG under stationary and turntable rotation conditions. By utilizing the FOS-based method, the average ARW coefficient of the constant rate biased RLG in the postulate system is estimated. The experimental results show that the FOS-based method can achieve high denoising ability. This method estimate the ARW coefficients of the constant rate biased RLG in the postulate system accurately. The FOS-based method does not need precise calibration table with high cost and complex measuring set-up, and Statistical results of the tests will provide us references in engineering application of the constant rate biased RLG INS.